The owner and crew of the Research Vessel
Transquest hosted a home cooked lunch for the Azerbaijan Maritime Border
Guard to provide local hospitality while the team is in San Francisco on
a training mission with the U.S. Coast Guard. They are here for 4 weeks
ship-board training and to officially take possession of an 82 ft U.S.
Coast Guard ship which the United States is donating to the Azerbaijan
government. The boat is currently the Coast Guard Cutter PT
Brower but will be commissioned into the Azerbaijan Border Guard as
the S-201 where she will patrol the Caspian Sea for the Federal Republic
of Azerbaijan.

The crew practiced mooring to another vessel,
the Transquest, and maneuvering in close quarters before coming aboard
for lunch. The U.S. Coast Guard from Yerba Buena Island accompanied the
Azerbaijan crew. There are two translators with the group, one of whom
is a member of the crew. They were joined later by the San Francisco Police
Marine unit.

Lunch conversation was animated and flowed
easily. We gave the Azerbaijan crew a tour of the Transquest and explained
her salvage and submersible launching capabilities. The S-201's Captain
stated that vessels such as the Transquest would be well suited for underwater
Archeological projects on the Caspian Sea.

Despite our language barrier (they spoke
little English), the translators never tired and many questions and answers
traded back and forth. They were all well mannered and good humored.We laughed a lot!